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FAITH AND THEOLOGY ● Ang taong may paniniwala, hindi lang

basta-basta sumusunod.
Theology
● Methodical effort to understand the truth of - We use our reason in order to make sense
revelation. of what happened in the Bible.
● Study of His relationship with man and the
world Dimensions of Faith
● Studied through the use of reason ● The Head
enlightened by faith ○ We believe in something
● Gr. Theos for God and Logos for study ○ Knowing
○ Study of God ● Heart
○ The science of God ○ Trusting in something
○ Worship
God ● Hands
● Transcendental being ○ Actions
● What we can know about God is just partial. ○ Doing
Kapag nalaman natin lahat tungkol ○ Doctrines
sakanya, diyos na tayo in a way. ○ Commitment

What will be the difficulty if we discuss God? Paradoxical Characteristics of Faith

● Our differences in religion
● The fact that we have studied God and
anything related to Him for a long time
● God is mysterious, we will find it difficult to
understand Him with reason and logic.
● God is a transcendental being, He is
different from us.
Revelation
● Subject matter of Theology
● What can be only known about God.
● Impossible to know god by human efforts,
partial lang talaga malalaman natin.
● God’s revelation takes time to discover.
Faith in Human Relations
Faith
● Important in learning about God.
● Having convictions
● Central to our lives
● Hebrews 11:1
○ Now faith is being sure of what
we hope for and certain of what
we do not see. Characteristics of Faith
● Paniniwala sa hindi natin nakikita
● Certain enough to die for yet a mystery
because there is always more to understand
● Free personal response to God yet morally
binding in conscience
● Reasonable yet beyond our natural ways of
knowing
● Individual act of our graced reason, yet also
a life-long process
● Gift of God yet something we do nobody
can believe for us
● Personal individual response, yet only
possible as a member of the Christian
community, the Church
● Paniniwala
○ Acceptance of the word of others
● Pagsunod
○ Readily obey the directions of those
over us
● Pagtitiwala
○ Entrustment of our welfare to others.
● Total and Absolute
○ Christ himself provides
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○ Absolute commitment to God ○ Uncaused cause
● Trinitarian ● Contingency
○ Our friendship with Christ and ○ Kaya totoo si God kasi siya yung
through Christ with the Father, in cause of everything or the cause of
their Holy Spirit the very first
○ We came to believe in Christ, the
Father and in the Holy Spirit ● Gradation and Perfection
● Loving, Maturing and Missionary ○ Perfect being
○ Love must be inseparable by the ● Design
love of God and love of neighbor, ○ Intelligent being
just like Christ’s ○ Everything God made is well-thought
○ Missionary spirit is the test of out
authentic Faith
○ Called to share in Christ’s three-fold Evangelization
mission as priest, prophet, and king ● Definition
○ Life giving through love ○ Proclamation to all people and
● Informed and Communitarian cultures of the good news about
○ Believing in Jesus’ words and Jesus
accepting his teachings, trusting that ● Purpose
he has the words of eternal life ○ Initial conversion
○ The Church is the one that sends us ● The total process by which the Good News
Christ’s revelation through Sacred is proclaimed.
Scripture and its living Tradition ● Includes catechesis and theology
● Inculturated ● Initial proclamation of the Christian
○ We live out our faith in God precisely Message to those who don’t know Christ yet
in our daily relationships with other
people
○ Each of these factors has radically Catechesis
affected our Catholic Faith ● Definition
○ Any instruction on Christian faith.
ICTUS ● Purpose
● Fish ○ Maturity in the faith
● Jesus Christ, Son of God, Our Saviour ● Total process of evangelization.
● Integration of doctrinal beliefs with moral
We can hear God even in silence. and prayer life to achieve the deepening of
faith.
St. Thomas Aquinas and the Existence of God ● Deepening of faith
● Cosmocentric, so explain niya in a logical
way as to how God is existing Lesson 4: Jesus Christ as the One who Calls us
● Prime Mover to Discipleship
○ God is the first mover
○ Initial mover Following Christ
○ First mover is necessary ● Essential and primordial foundation of
● Causality Christian morality.
○ Everything has a cause and effect
○ God is the main cause of everything.
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● His ways, words, precepts, and deeds The Eucharist
constitute the moral rule of Christian ● Invited to discover who Jesus is.
lifeWhat does Discipleship Entail ○ Friend of the poor
● Matthew 4:19 ○ Comforter of those who suffer
○ At once, they left their nets ○ One who proclaims the good news
● Matthew 19:21 ○ Obeys the Father’s will
○ Go sell your possessions
● Matthew 16:24 To be like Christ
○ Let him deny himself and take up his ● To live in communion with one another, just
cross. like what He did.

Disciple GS 22
● Lover of truth ● The Church is assisted by the Holy Spirit.
● Jesus = the way, the truth and the life ● Light is shed on the mystery of man.

What makes a Disciple?

● Imitates Jesus who gives primacy to the will
of the father.

What is expected of a disciple?

● Lives in loving service for others.

The Church: Willed by God to Make Possible

the Encounter with Christ
● The Church was instituted by Christ to
perpetuate his presence on earth.
● Signifies a visible, historical, and tangible
form.
● What does it wish to serve?
○ Each person may be able to find
Christ, in order that He may walk
with everyone the path of life. (RH
13)
● The Church was instituted as the
sacrament of salvation of all
○ This includes theandric communion
without explicit awareness of the
Christic foundation
● What Mission did Jesus Entrust?
○ Make present in every time and
situation the encounter between the
spirit and the flesh, God and
mankind
○ Promote and preserve the faith and
the moral life.

HAPPINESS AND HUMAN ACTS
● All human beings seek happiness
● We do things because there is a reason and
usually it is for us to become happy
● Our accomplishments and relationships
make up happy
Happiness
● Never ending possession
● The attainment of virtues is the highest form
of happiness.
Contemporary Moral Trends in Achieving
Happiness
● Secularism
○ Secular part of the world play its
legitimate role
○ Denies belief in God, religion is
irrelevant
○ Negates the idea that God is the
source of happiness
○ Would lead to relativism and
subjectivism
● Relativism
○ Denial of the absolute because
everything in reality changes
○ What is good to me is what makes
me happy
● Individualism
○ The tendency to magnify individual
liberty
○ Against external authority and
associated activity
● Hedonism
○ Whatever gives you pleasure is the
standard of morality
○ Pleasure gives happiness
● Materialism
○ material possession, success, and
progress
● Consumerism
○ Buying products, money
○ Throw-away culture
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God as the Ultimate Happiness of the Human
Person
● Pope John Paul II
○ Happiness is associated with the
meaning of life
○ Yearning for the absolute truth
○ Proved by man’s tireless search for
knowledge in all fields
○ Happiness cannot be found here on
earth but in God
● Saint Thomas Aquinas
○ To desire happiness is to desire that
one’s will be satisfied
○ All do not know happiness, they do
not know what the general notion of
happiness is found.
○ We want to be happy but all of us
know what really makes us happy.
○ Two-Fold Happiness
■ Imperfect happiness on earth
■ Perfect happiness consisting
of the beatific vision of God
in heaven
● Criteria in Attaining Eternal Life
○ Follow the commandments
■ Act according to our nature
■ Based on natural laws
Beatitudes: Call to Perfection
● Suggest commitment to live out the different
suggested attitudes to attain the graces
promised by God
● Do not suggest certain actions but correct
dispositions and attitudes
● Necessary in forming our will to choose the
good and turn to God
● Can help us become happy
● Set of precepts that utterly demonstrate the
moral standards of our Lord.
● Call to follow Him as His disciples.
● Blessed are the poor in spirit
○ Poor in spirit = detachment from
riches/honors; humility
● Blessed are the meek
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○ Meek = man’s irascible nature from
falling into excessive anger
● Blessed are those who mourn
○ Moderates man’s desire for pleasure
by keeping it in proportion
● Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness
○ It is our duty to uphold justice of
other people
● Blessed are the merciful
○ Nawala ako ule
● Blessed are the pure in heart
○ Nawala na anamn ako putangina
lang
● Blessed are the peacemakers
○ Those who thirst for justice will be
given peace
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FREEDOM: PURSUIT OF GOOD ● Planting of the garden
● Tree of life
I. Maturity to Self-Giving ■ VV 15-17
Dignity: God’s Image and Likeness in Man ● Vocation: care for the
● True freedom is a freedom only for the good garden
● Man’s nature is intrinsically good ● Permission: Eat
● Human person as the perfect and crowning anything except the
glory of God’s creation fruit of the tree of
○ Must participate in God’s creative knowledge
works which are good ● Prohibition: Eating the
● Man is always expected to elect the good in fruit of the tree of
all his/her undertakings knowledge
● Original Justice ○ Scene 2
○ God’s plan for the world is perfect ■ God created woman as
○ Nothing was lacking but sin entered man’s partner
○ Man is now susceptible to be a slave ■ God expects Adam and Eve
of their own desires, giving way to to use their freedom
their own destruction and damnation responsibly in caring for the
● The Reality of Sin garden
○ Biblical Teaching ■ Man and woman formed a
■ Genesis 3 - sin as an act of community
disobedience is disrespect to ○ Scene 3
God, an intellectual ■ The Serpent
suspicion, and a form of ● Not a phallic symbol
irritation and rebellion ● Not Satan, not the
○ Rationalization principle of evil and
■ One justifies one’s sins death
■ “To be like God” is the desire ■ The prohibition becomes an
of sin to become the arbiter option
between good and evil. ■ God is objectified
■ One makes own norms of ■ Death becomes a threat
what’s good and bad ■ God’s rule became a barrier
○ Notions of Sin in the Old Testament to be surmounted
■ Rebellion ● Prohibition was
■ Foolishness violated
■ Abomination ● Permission was
■ Unfaithfulness perverted
■ adultery ● Vocation was
○ Harmful Effects on Relationality neglected
■ One’s self ○ Scene 4
■ God ■ Knowledge leads to shame
■ Others ■ Gardener continued to care
● The Drama of Creation in Four Scenes for the garden
○ Scene 1 ■ Adam and Eve were found
■ Creation guilty and banished from the
● Formation from clay garden

■ God continued to be gracious
to them
(The sin is interior but was just externalized through
disobedience.This interior disposition is their desire
to become God, the arbiter of that is good and evil)
● Genuine Freedom
○ Must be given emphasis in order to
straighten man’s path toward the
awareness of one’s fidelity which
was lost to sin
○ It Includes
■ Freedom from / kalayaan
mula sa
■ Freedom for / kalayaan para
sa
● As man strives to become “like-God”
○ They are called to be reminded that
the more we become like God, the
more we become humans
○ The more we become humans, the
more we should be like God
● Manifestation of Freedom
○ Vocation
■ Vocare - calling
○ Types of Vocation
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■ Ultimate
■ General
■ Specific
Dignity and Freedom: The Fulfillment and
Manifestation of God’s Presence in Man
● Love, Dignity, and Freedom
○ The creation was due to God’s
unconditional, undying, and
unending love
○ Man’s response is faithfulness
○ The recognition of the dignity of all
persons must be the basis of a
person’s genuine exercise of
genuine freedom
II. Responsibility
● As man navigates the ins and outs of
genuine freedom, the good must always
take precedence
● Man must always bear consciously and
unconsciously that they are the only ones
answerable and accountable for all the
actions they committed
LAW: ABIDING IN TRUTH
Just Law
● Saint Thomas Aquinas:
○ An ordinance of reason, properly
promulgated and decreed by
competent authority for the sake of
the common good
○ Ordinance of Reason
■ Ordinance: contains a
decisive common to perform.
Lt: ordinare or ordinantia
which means to put order.
■ Good law: product of careful
and serious deliberation.
Should not be based on
whim, emotions or
sentiments.
■ Law: orders and directs
human acts towards their
end. It flows from reasonable

will; from the illumined
understanding of the will of
an end.
○ Properly Promulgated
■ Must be clearly
communicated to all
concerned
■ Ignorantia juris neminem
excusat: ignorance of the law
is not an excuse
■ Law: made known to those
who are bound by it. It also
does not mean to impose
hardships or needless
restrictions
■ True Law: makes men good,
liberates them from perverse
and mistaken judgements
and leats them to their
ultimate end.
○ Decreed by Competent Authority
■ Only persons with legitimate
authority have he power to
create and implement laws
for their respective
communities
■ Authorities should know or
have gone through what the
people have gone through
○ For the Sake of the Common Good
■ Common Good: sum total of
benefits by individuals from
government and from the
nation as a whole
■ Universal Happiness of All
Men
● Presupposes the
promotion of and
respect for the dignity
and true freedom of
each person
● Should also foster the
well-being and
authentic
development of the
community itself.
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I. Eternal Law
● The plane of Divine Wisdom as to directing
all actions and movement in the universe
● Unchangeable
● Planned in eternity
● 10 Commandments, Beatitudes
II. Natural Law
● Participation of Human beings to the plan of
the divine wisdom
● Reflects the eternal law
● It is knowable through human reason
● It is the set of rights and obligations that
arise from out basic dignity as persons
● Moral standards of a person, in general
dapat alam natin
Properties of Natural Laws
● Natural
○ Binds all men at all times and in all
places; the very nature of men
○ Common to all people
○ Example: gravity, sunrise, an d
sunsets
● Indispensable
○ Man has no authority over natural
law
○ God is the source of natural law
○ Dispensation from natural laws are
violations of the divinely willed order
○ God may allow exceptions as long
as it does not contradict God’s own
nature
● Immutability
○ Unchangeable
○ Will exist as long as human nature
exists
● Dynamic
○ Changes in the condition of man
results in modified or new demands
of the Natural Law
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Scientific Laws
● The ones governing the universe such as
gravity, the water cycle, the formation of
molecules and the biological make-up of
humans

Moral Laws
● Govern the actions of men
● Do good, avoid evil
● Revealed to us by Jesus during His public
ministry
● Metanoia ● Civil Laws
○ A change of heart and minds of the ○ Man made laws/decrees that bind all
people citizens of a nation
○ Promulgated by civil authorities
Divine Law ○ Highly encouraged to be in line with
● Laws that are totally dependent on human the Universal Values, Gospel, and
narrators The Social Teachings
● Closely related to different cultures ○ Example: Constitution, family Code,
● May vary in human perceptions through Labour Code, Bill of Rights
new ways of expressing it
● Not subject to change; constant Conscience: Man’s Sanctuary
● Usually found in the scriptures
● Helped shape the Israelite’s culture
especially in the way they perceive and
follow the Laws of Yahweh
● Christian teachings; on the Bible

Human Law
● Church Law
● Ecclesiastical Law
● An expression of Christ’s laws of
love in particular circumstances of
Christian living
● Promulgated by Eccleiastical
Authorities I. The meaning of Conscience
● Not made to restrict freedom but a Conscience
way to become critical thinkers in ● Inner voice of God that guides man toward
what we do the election of the good and obliges them to
● Canon Law be faithful to their dignity
○ The compilation of church ● One of the many ways through which man
laws is assisted in the journey back to God
● Must not be taken as a feeling of guilt

● Although a controversial idea in the Catholic
doctrine, the Church firmly believes that it
has a huge influential role in the lives of the
faithful
● It is present to help the Christian in
navigating their way back to God
● Election
○ Making of decisions
Bible (OT)
● Book of Deuteronomy (30:11)
○ Neither obscure nor beyond your
reach. Not heaven nor beyond the
seas. It is in your heart for you to put
into practice
● Jeremiah (31:34)
○ “But this is the covenant which I will
make with the house of Israel after
those days says the Lord, I will place
my law within them, and write it upon
their hearts: I will be their God and
they shall be my people. No longer
will they need to teach their friends
and kinsmen how to know the Lord.”
○ Through their conscience, they are
able to teach themselves to know
their God
Bible (NT)
● Romans (2:15)
○ They can demonstrate the effect of
Law engraved on their heart, to
which their own conscience bears
witness; since they are aware of
various considerations, some which
accuse them, while others provide
them with a defense.”
Vatican II
● Pastoral Constitution on the Church in
the Modern World
○ Conscience is man’s most secret
core, and his sanctuary. By
conscience, that law is made known
which is fulfilled in the love of God
and one’s neighbor
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● Declaration on Religious Liberty
○ It is through his conscience that man
sees and recognizes the demands of
the divine law - Dignitatis Humanae
3
○ Come to God that is their last end
○ Conscience is the way that we
communicate with the Lord and how
it reflects our relationship with Him
CFC
● Conscience is the norm of personal
morality, our ultimate subjective norm for
discerning moral good and evil, with the
feeling of being bound to follow its directive.
II. Conscience according to Saint Thomas
Aquinas
Conscience
● Summa Theologiae
○ La. Q. 70, article 12 and 13
○ Conscience is not a power, but an
act
● Derived from the Latin phrase cum alia
scientia meaning the individual man’s
application of knowledge or acting with
knowledge
● Not a power, but an action
● To witness, to bind, or incite, and also to
accuse, torment or rebuke.
○ To witness
■ We recognize that we have
done or not done something
○ To incite or bind
■ We judge that something
should be done or not done
○ To excuse, accuse, or torment
■ We judge that something
done is well done or ill done.
III. Conscience and the Superego
The Freudian Personality Diagram
● Libido
○ The basic, unconscious, instinctual
sexual energy in each individual
● Id
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○ Inborn primitive portion of the
storehouse of libido
○ The basic energy that continually
pushes for immediate gratification
○ Hindi lang sex wag malibog
○ May influence the person’s acts if
not tempered
○ “The Pleasure Principle”
● Ego
○ The portion of personality that
organizes, places, and keeps the
person in touch with reality
○ Language and thought
○ “The Reality Principle”
○ Usually expressed by the language
we use affected by the actions of the
people around us
● Superego
○ The “conscience” part of personality
○ Contains parental and societal
values and attitudes incorporated
during childhood; morals
○ Influences our ego Superego vs. Conscience
○ “The Ought Principle”
○ It is NOT the conscience
○ According to Fr. Richard Gula
■ It is like an attic where all our
childhood experiences are
stored. Subconsciously,
those experiences somewhat
become the voice that tells
the person to do and believe
in something.
■ A person is following their
superego because it fills the
empty chambers of their
need to be loved and
accepted

IV. Judgement of the Conscience

● Conscience is a judgement upon an
individual act (either performed or omitted)

● Before the Action
○ Conscience judges an act good to
be performed or evil to be avoided
● After the Action
○ Conscience is a judgment of
approval or disapproval
Discernment
● The choice between two goods (evil has no
place in the life of a Christian
● Aids us in undergoing the search for God’s
will and how we can follow it
● Choose and decide
● Finding the will of the Lord
● Election
○ The choice of the conscience
Twofold Functions of the Conscience
● Moral Faculty
○ Moral conscience is present at the
heart of the person
○ Conscience is a judgement of
reason whereby the human person
recognizes the moral quality of a
concrete act
● Practical Moral Judgement
○ Conscience enables one to assume
responsibility for the acts performed
○ Even if man commits evil, the just
judgement of conscience can remain
within him as the witness to the
universal truth of the good, at the
same time as the evil of his
particular choice
Ignatius of Loyola
● The good and evil spirits operate depending
on the spiritual condition of the person
● For people who have closed themselves off
from God’s grace, the good spirit disturbs
and shakes up.
● It stirs feelings of remorse and discontent.
The purpose is to make the person unhappy
with a sinful way of life.
How do we undergo Discernment?
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● Be mindful of the movement of the spirit
● There are spirits from evil and from the
Lord
○ This results to desolation and
consolation
Spiritual Consolation
● An experience of being so on fire with God’s
love that we feel impelled to praise, love,
and serve God and help others
● We feel more alive and connected with
others
● The good spirit strengthens, encourages,
consoles, removes obstacles, and gives
peace
● Does not always mean happiness
Spiritual Desolation
● Experience of the soul in heavy darkness or
turmoil
● Excessively restless and anxious and feel
cut off from others
● The evil spirit tries to detain by stirring up
anxiety, false sadness, needless confusion,
frustration, and other obstacles
● Does not always mean sadness
Discernment of Spirits
● Challenging task; requires maturity, inner
quiet, and an ability to reflect on one’s life
● Takes practice; something of an art
● We must be ready to improvise and adjust
because God works in each of us so
uniquely; assistance of a spiritual director
V. Types of Consciences
Correct/True Conscience
● Judges what is really good as good and
what is evil as evil objectively
● According to the principles of morality; no
question asked
Certain Conscience
● Bases its judgement on the state of
subjectivity of the person

● Parang selective
Doubtful Conscience
● Suspends judgement to an action
● Makes the person take time in making an
election
● Consult other people
False or Erroneous Conscience
● Mistakenly judges something morally good
which is objectively evil
● People must make a sincere effort to
overcome their ignorant consciences
● Scrupulous Conscience
○ For little or no reason, it judges an
act to be morally evil when it is not
○ Tends to exaggerate the gravity of
sin where it does not exist
○ Leads to paranoia of the fear of
sinning
○ Very careful to do things properly
and correctly
○ Overthinking
● Perplexed Conscience
○ Judges wrongly that sin is committed
both in the performance or omission
of an act
○ One fears that sin is committed
whether it is done or not
● Lax Conscience
○ Judges on insufficient ground that
there is no sin in the fact or that the
sin is not as grave
○ Lax conscience tends to make
excuses for omissions and mistakes
VI. The Formation of Conscience
Search for the Truth
● Refers to the truth of God’s revelation
through Jesus inspired by the Holy Spirit
● Sacred Scriptures
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Think of Alternatives
● There are different spiritualities that
approach life in various ways that fit the
lifestyle of different people.
● One can choose from the Benedictine,
Augustinian, Dominican, Franciscan and
other spiritualities.
Discernment
● Judgement of the conscience
● Choosing and deciding
Pray
● Prayer is the most important of all the ways
on how to form one’s conscience.
● We end as well in the recognition of God in
our lives through prayer.
Mature vs. Immature Conscience
● Mature
○ A conscience that weighs decisions
○ Considers basic dignity of others
and the respect due them
○ Looks to God’s law of love and is
open to truth and goodness
● Immature
○ A conscience that acts out of other
(not so good) motives
Action
● We can already tell if it’s good or bad
● Law and conscience as basis
Indirectly Voluntary Acts
● A person is held morally responsible for any
evil effect which flows from the action itself
directly and necessarily as a natural
consequence, though the evil effect is not
directly willed or intended.
● Conditions
○ The action which produces effects
must be good in itself
○ The good effect must not come from
the evil effect. To do evil in order to
 14
achieve something good is not
justified.
○ The motive of the doer must be
towards the attainment of the good.
The evil effect is permitted only as
an incidental result.
○ The good effect must outweigh the
evil result in its importance.

FOLLOWING CHRIST AS THE PRIMORDIAL
AND ESSENTIAL FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN
MORALITY
Holiness
● The ultimate vocation that all of us are
called to fulfill
● Specific and general vocations to find their
meaning
● In everything we do, we have in mind the
call to holiness as our ultimate goal:
communion with God
● Not the concern of a privileged few, nor
does it pertain to Christians of the past
● Always in season; a call to every Christian
● Pope Benedict XVI
○ Never goes out of fashion; shines
more brightly
○ An effort to reach God
● Mother Teresa of Calcutta
○ Not something extraordinary; not the
luxury of the few
○ Simple duty for each one of us
Sources of Sins
I. Obstacle to Following Christ: Man as
Disfigured by SIn
Nature of Sin
● Sin
○ Our failure to live the Great
Commandment to love God, others,
and self
○ The Confiteor - I confess to Almighty
God..
II.
Degrees of Sin
● Some sins are more serious than others
● Mortal Sin
○ Fatally damages the relationship
between us and God
○ We should never assume that
someone is guilty of mortal sin
○ CCC 1855
15
■ Destroys charity in the heart
of man
■ Turns us away from God
○ Conditions
■ Grave matter - specified by
the Ten Commandments
■ Full knowledge - can be
difficult to discern; we know
that our action is gravely
sinful
■ Full Consent of the will - we
freely and under no duress
chose to do the evil; can be
diminished by fear,
compulsion, and addiction
● Venial Sin
○ Does not destroy our relationship
with God
○ Ignoring venial sin is like ignoring a
minor cancer than can become a
serious one
○ Gradual neglect of a relationship
with God
● The Seven Capital Sins
○ They can lead us to other sins
○ Pride, greed, envy, wrath, sloth, lust,
and gluttony
● Social Sin
○ Structures of sin
○ Institutionalized sin
○ Favors one segment of the
population over another
○ Selective, ganun
Genuine Conversion: Following the Path
of Love
● We cannot speak about sin without
speaking about God’s mercy
● His mercy is always greater than our
capacity to sin.
● To deepen our sense of God’s mercy:
meditate on the mercy stories
● To receive mercy: repent our sins

The Spirit Configures the Human Person To
Christ
I. The Spirit as the Source and Means of
Moral Life: Guided by the Spirit
● Only sincere dialogue, open to the truth of
the Gospel, could guide the Church on her
journey
● Let us allow ourselves to be guided by the
spirit, seeking to live in the freedom that is
guided by faith in Christ and expressed in
service to the brethren
● To be more conformed to Christ = the more
we become to really free
II. The Disposition to do Good: Virtues
● Faith, hope, and charity go together
Hope
● Practiced through the virtue of patience
● Continues to do good even in the face of
apparent failure
● Thru the virtue of humility, we accept God’s
mystery and trust Him even at times of
darkness
Faith
● God had given his Son for our sakes and
gives us victorious certainty that God is love
● Transform our impatience and our doubts
into the sure hope that God holds the world
in his hands
● In spite of all darkness, He triumphs in glory
● Dues Caritas Est, No. 39
● We believe in God and believe all that he
has revealed to us and that Holy Church
proposes for our belief (CCC 1842)
Virtue according to Saint Thomas Aquinas
● Virtue
○ An habitual and firm disposition to
do good
○ The goal of a virtuous life is to
become like God (CCC1803)
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○ The good habit that helps us to
practice Christian ideals in daily life
● Cardinal and Theological Virtues
○ CCC 1803-1845
○ Whatever is true, honorable, just,
pure, lovely, gracious, if there is any
excellence, if there is anything
worthy of praise, think about these
things. (Phil 4:8)
Theological Values
● Each person is infused with special graces
and gifts from baptism to help them be a
faithful disciple of Christ
● Infused virtues
● Called theological because they have God
as their origin and object
● From God; helps us have an intimate
relationship with God
● Faith
○ Gift that enables us to believe in
God and in what he has revealed
○ We are able to commit ourselves
totally to God thru mature faith
○ True faith expresses itself in good
works
○ “Now virtue” - present struggles
● Hope
○ Virtue that enables us to trust that
God’s promises to us will be fulfilled
○ Along with faith, hope enables us to
relate and to deal with unseen reality
○ Helps us to deal with the future
○ Despair
■ Losing all hope
○ Presumption
■ Belief that God will save us
with little to no effort on our
part
● Love
○ Greatest of all virtues
○ The greatest of all the
commandments
○ The very nature of God
○ The Catechism
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■ Charity is the theological ● Temperance
virtue by which we love god ○ Moderation
above all else for his own ○ Moderates our appetite for pleasure
sake, and our neighbor as ○ Secures the balance in created
ourselves for the love of God goods and helps us control our
(CCC 1822) instincts and desires in a Christ-like
way
Cardinal Virtues
● Cardinal comes from the Latin cardo As we seek to grow in virtue, we will need the help
meaning hinge of the Holy Spirit and when possible, fellowship with
● All human virtues are hinged to one of the people who are also seeking to live a virtuous life.
cardinal virtues
● Prudence END OF THEOLOGY
○ Natural Virtue
■ Assist people to organize
their lives and activities in
order to achieve the goal of a
happy life in this world
○ Supernatural Virtue
■ Help us organize our
activities, desires,
possibilities, resources, and
behavior in such a way that
we may come to eternal live
○ The only time we need to be
naturally imprudent for the honor
and glory of God is when the
supernatural virtue of prudence
contradicts the natural
● Justice
○ A joy to the righteous, but a dismay
to evildoers
○ Human Virtue
■ Calls us to be fair and honest
in our relationship with God
and others
○ Cardinal Virtue
■ Calls us to fight injustice
whenever we see it
○ Christian perspective: justice must
always be tempered with mercy;
God is our model
● Fortitude
○ Gives us the courage and strength
to do the right thing even in the face
of difficulties and temptations